Page 20 of Snapped
Chapter 11 | Sharing
“How are things at home? Is everyone adjusting to all the changes?” Maeve tucked her legs underneath her, getting comfortable. Despite the chill in the air, she felt warm, flushed, and the cold seeping from the stone of the bench she now sat on was oddly calming.
Hector snorted. “Yeah, best as can be expected I suppose; not everyone was very…welcoming to my new status and title. Let’s just leave it at that. Besides, I want to talk about you. How are you doing, Maeve?”
“I’m fine.” She shrugged, looking everywhere but at Hector.
“Why do I not believe you?” He chuckled, and it made Maeve smile. “Is it the whole Aiya-Sawyer thing or the new baby? Perhaps both?” Hector continued to prod.
Inhaling, she stared up at the moon before glancing at Hector, her smile going from bright and beautiful to sad in an instant. “I miss her sometimes—Autumn. She sent a monster after us, me and Aiya. Her decisions caused so much pain and misery, and I really want to beat my own ass when I catch myself thinking about her. How fucked up is that, Hector?” The last sentence was spoken barely louder than a whisper, polished off with a sniffle.
Attempting to comfort her, Hector wrapped an arm around Maeve, pulling her close and kissing the top of her head. “I’m certain it’s perfectly normal. Even my father mourned Marcus’s death, though they’d not spoken to each other in decades.”
“Really?” She sat up straight, turning to look at Hector as he nodded his sincerity. “Wow. And I thought I was fucked up, missing Autumn. And you know what really tears at my sanity?” Ending the question with a self-deprecating snort, she added, “If Aiyan hadn’t killed her, I would have. How messed up is that, Hector?”
Standing, fists clenched at her sides, she paced back and forth as she allowed herself a few intense moments to let loose all the doubt and self-loathing she’d been keeping locked away. “With everything that happened that day including but not limited to my death, how is it I still think about her, still care for her?”
“Maeve…”
“I’m a mom now, Hector. I have a wife and a family here at House Gaeland.” Maeve paced back and forth, wearing out the grass beneath her feet as she wrung her hands and rattled on. “Ainee told me she likes me—she wants us to get to know each other better, and I like her too.” Maeve stopped abruptly, facing Hector. “But when I think about it, about…being with someone else, Autumn is still there in the back of my mind.”
“Maeve, really, you—” Before Hector could finish his sentence, a dark shadow moved closer to Maeve. The shadowed figure grabbed one of her arms, twisting it behind her back. The other arm wrapped around her neck, the very sharp, jagged blade of a dagger held against Maeve’s throat.
The person moved back a few feet, stepping into a halo of light stemming from one of the hanging oil lamps that were scattered throughout the garden. A shock of long hair as red as fire fell around a tall, broad man’s shoulders when his hood fell away while he struggled to keep Maeve in a tight hold. Hector stood slowly, not wanting to spook the man holding a knife to the neck of this woman he considered family. She was relentless though, as she’d been for as long as Hector could remember. A thin line of blood trickled down her neck, and the warm wetness finally penetrated her protective instinct, and she stilled.
“Who are you and why do you hold a knife to the neck of the daughter of House Orion?” Hector stood calmly, demanding the man’s attention.
“The man that’s going to kill this bitch before I go find the fucking Princess and end her too.” The red-haired shadow glared at Hector. “And I have no qualms about ending you if you get in my way.”
